A/N: Last Hogwarts chapter, but by no means the end of the story. It sounds like the end, but it really isn't. The next chapter will be tomorrow. And if this feels sort of like a oneshot within a story, it sort of felt like that to me too... It sort of mutated that way on it's own. I lost control, delirious with pain I think (damaged shoulder). Anyways, it is what it is.

Chapter 9: Next Contestant

"I judge by what she's wearing just how many heads I'm tearing off of assholes coming onto her. Each night seems like it's getting worse…" (Next Contestant, Nickelback)

Rose and Ioan broke up in mid January. Apparently, the fact her grandmother invited me to be part of the family while forgetting his name sort of bothered him. Hm… can't imagine why. I found this out one night when she came crying into the Head's dormitories.

"Ioan said that I was still in love with you!" she exclaimed, hitting me in the shoulder. I was sitting innocently on the couch (no girl around, I swear) when she hit me.

"Sucks for him, great for me," I said idly, turning the page in my book.

"But it isn't true!" she insisted. I raised an eyebrow at her, trying to seem unaffected. "I've… well, I've broken up with him," she said. "But please don't get any ideas. You haven't had a real relationship." I grumbled. "You know I'm right. But will you promise me something?" she asked.

"Anything, Rose," I said, trying to sound as earnest as I could.

"If neither of us are married by the time we're thirty, we get married," she said. God I hope it doesn't take that long…

"Okay," I said, trying to seem nonchalant. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun." And there goes the bastard side of my person. She tried to smile but couldn't seem to.

"Goodnight, Scor," she said, walking back to her room. I repeatedly bashed my head on the back of the couch. Fuck.

OOooOOooOOooOO

The next Quidditch practice sucked like none other. Ioan kept looking like he wanted me dead, Rose was on top form, Lily and the rest of the Chasers were fantastic and Hugo sucked.

"Alright people!" I exclaimed after practice was over. They landed and crowded around me. "The next match is also the last one of the year, and it's the last match Rose, Ioan and I will ever play at Hogwarts. We have a chance of making this a seven year winning streak for Gryffindor," I said.

"Sorry," Hugo grumbled.

"It's okay, mate. I know you can play better," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "But Ioan, if you don't stop glaring at me during games, we will have to have words," I added, casting my surly Seeker a glance. "The rest of you played very well today and I think we do have a chance next Saturday against Slytherin."

"Is it weird being best friends with Slytherin's captain?" one of the Chasers (Jack O'Brien) asked.

"I'm best friends with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff's captains as well," I said.

"So it's like an interhouse alliance?" the other Chaser, Donovan Cole, asked.

"Yeah, something like that… Erm… you're all dismissed," I said. The majority of them (Rose, Donovan, Cole and Hugo) left me alone in the changing rooms, but both Lily and Ioan looked like they wanted to talk.

"Scor," Lily started, making for me.

"Malfoy!" Ioan shrieked.

"Lily, can it wait a few minutes? I have to deal with him," I said, pointing at Ioan.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure," she said. "I'll just be in your common room." Okay, that was weird.

"Yes, Ioan?" I asked calmly. He shouldn't hate me. We've both been on the receiving end of the Rose Weasley break up stick.

"I know you're the reason she dumped me!" he exclaimed. Out of desire for safety, I grabbed my beaters bat.

"Actually, she dumped you because you accused her of still being in love with me," I said. "Which she isn't, a fact I'm painfully aware of." He looked confused. "And hey, you think you got hurt badly?" I said. He withdrew his fist from mid air and looked confused. I hope he knows I've got about six inches on him and am a lot stronger… It's not that he's short… I'm just freakishly tall. "Were you in bed together when she broke up with you?" I asked.

"No," Ioan said, seeming confused. I nodded. "Were you?"

"Yeah," I said. He blinked.

"It's been more than a year and it still hurts," I said.

"That's why you're a whore!" he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, that's why," I said. "She's not still in love with me. She dumped me right after we had sex for the first time." His jaw dropped in shock.

"No wonder you're… the way you are," he said.

"Yeah, no wonder, right?" I said.

"I'm sorry," he said. We sat in silence for a moment. "Can we be friends, even though you broke my sister's heart?"

"I don't see why not," I said.

"I respect you more now that I know what she did to you," he said, offering me his hand.

"Thanks," I said, taking his hand. "And, you know that if we'd gotten in another fight I would have won, right?" He chuckled half heartedly.

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, Lily wants to talk to me, so I should go," I said. I turned to leave.

"Hey, Captain?" Ioan said. I glanced back over my shoulder. "I'm sorry Rose fucked you up so badly." Me too, Ioan. Me too. And the worst part is, I can't seem to get over her.

OOooOOooOOooOO

I arrived back in my common room to find Lily sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Lily, what's up?" I asked. She jumped up at my arrival.

"Is Rose here?" she asked.

"I dunno," I said. "I just got here." She walked over to Rose's door and knocked. There was no reply.

"Rosie?" she asked. No reply. She opened the door. Rose was nowhere to be seen. I wonder where she is… Of course, almost no one can account for my whereabouts most nights, so I shouldn't really be one to talk, but still. This isn't Rose's usual style. Why am I so jealous? She doesn't even love me. This is my only excuse for the next few events. My excuse is blind jealousy. Emphasis on blind.

"Oh good," Lily said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"She never would have let me do this," she said, placing her hands on my chest. I have to admit, at that point I was still confused as to Lily's presence. Of course, once she stretched on her toes and lightly kissed me I understood all too well. Realistically, this is my own damn fault for building a reputation as a man whore, but… But I still found myself kissing her back. Possibly because she has red hair. It's a different red than Rose's, but it's still red. Once I realised my shirt was no longer on and we were on my bed I knew this had to stop.

"No, Lily. I can't do this," I said. She sat up, biting her lip.

"Because you're still in love with Rose?" she asked, seeming unperturbed by the possibility I didn't want to sleep with her because I was in love with her cousin.

"Well…" I shouldn't lie to her. "Yes, but that's not why."

"Why then?" she asked, her brown eyes boring into mine.

"Your brother is my best friend," I said. "And I'm good friends with your other brother." She rolled her eyes.

"Brothers are so much more trouble than they're worth," she said, trailing her hands down my stomach. "And plus. Who says they have to know?" she asked. I know I seem to say this a lot, but that's where I should have stopped. It's like one of those things. You can see yourself falling, but you can't stop yourself because there's nothing to hold onto. Which is why I allowed her to push me back down on the bed and remove the rest of my clothing before she had her way with me.

OOooOOooOOooOO

The next morning, I thought I was dreaming. Red hair was splayed on the pillow next to me. Considering my track record, this will sound weird, but I've never woken up with a girl in my bed. Especially not one who has my arm around her. Well, okay. I've just never woken up with a girl before, my bed or hers. It's sort of a refreshing experience, honestly. It makes me feel like less of a cad. Then she stirred awake.

"Morning, Captain," she said sleepily.

"Morning," I replied, sounding slightly shell shocked. She smiled at me, stretched and sat up.

"Well, I'm going to go to breakfast," she said. "See you at practice." She got out of bed and put her clothes back on. I blinked at her.

"You didn't ask to stay," I said in confusion. "They always ask to stay." And it's true. Rose is the only girl I know who has ever willingly left me alone in my bed. And now Lily. What is this about Weasleys? Do my charms not work on them or something? Didn't work on Dominique (haven't thought about that one in a while), didn't work on Rose for long, and now don't work on Lily… What the fuck?

"It's how you operate, isn't it? No repeats?" she said, seeming as confused as I felt. "I mean, I'm surprised I even got to spend the night," she said. I blinked at her. "I mean, honestly, has anyone besides Rose ever spent the night?"

Rose never told Lily how we broke up? I always thought she and Lily were best friends. "Rose never spent the night," I heard myself say. Her eyebrows skyrocketed and her mouth opened into a perfect 'O'.

"Well then, Captain my captain," she said. I kind of like being called Captain… Not by Ioan, but definitely by Lily. "I'll see you at practice," she said, kissing me.

I avoided Al all day. Yes, Lily's dated people (not that we're dating) and every single time he's been evil about it. Thus why I'm not telling him. After dinner, I walked into the newsroom and instantly regretted it when I saw the trademark shock of black hair. I almost turned to go back out again when I realised he and Dylan were currently occupied with each other's lips. My jaw dropped as did the Quidditch ball case I was carrying. All I'd intended was to come ask for Dylan's advice. Instead, I broke my foot. My yelp of pain coupled with the sound of the crate hitting the floor snapped the two out of it.

"Finally!" I shrieked. They both turned pink. I rolled my eyes. "At least when Rose and I were together, it only took us one year of ridiculous pining! It's taken the two of you, what, four years?" I exclaimed. "Oh, god, my foot," I added, falling over.

"I can fix that," Al said, pointing to my foot. Of course you can you smarmy Healer wannabe. He moved the Quidditch crate and repaired my foot, refusing to meet my eyes.

"You mentioned dating Rose without the usual cringe of pain!" Dylan said.

"You mean, besides the cringe that accompanied the broken foot?" I said.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. I shot a nervous glance at Al.

"Explain later," I said. "Late for practice." I grabbed the crate and ran out the door. I arrived at the pitch and started laughing.

"That's new," Rose said. "The laughing." It's true. I haven't been the most fun guy since last year. Lily was watching me curiously. I shrugged.

"Al and Dylan got together," I said. "Well, at least, they hooked up." The jaws of Ioan, Jack and Donovan dropped while Rose and Lily squealed in excitement. "I walked in on them," I said.

"What were you doing in the newsroom?" Rose asked, correctly interpreting their location. "I mean, articles aren't due until Saturday late."

"I know. Just wanted to talk to Dylan," I said. "He's always in there."

"What about?" Rose asked. Suddenly curious about my life again, are we? I shrugged.

"He is my best friend," I said with a nervous glance at Lily. "Alright!" I shouted before Rose could ask me more questions. "Tomorrows the game. My last game at Hogwarts. We need to win, so that I can gloat at Al for the rest of our lives and so that we can claim at least a seven year winning streak. Six isn't bad, but seven would be better. I have faith in the lot of you," I added.

"Aw shucks, captain," Hugo said. I shushed him.

"We can do this," I said. There was a moment of silence over the team. "Now get up there."

OOooOOooOOooOO

"We won, we won, we won, we won!" Rose chanted, doing the can-can with Hugo, Jack, Donovan and Ioan on a table in the Gryffindor common room. Al and Dylan were in a corner together across the room. Will wandered by and snickered at them.

"They finally got their shit together, huh?" he asked me.

"Yep," I said cheerfully, downing my shot of Firewhiskey. The Quidditch House Cup glittered on a table nearby. I watched Rose dance, a great feeling of sadness washing over me. Where do we go once we graduate? I mean, I hope to be somewhere with my best friends, writing, hopefully for the Daily Prophet, but Rose doesn't want to be a journalist. Al wants to be a Healer… Will wants to avoid being a Healer like his grandma and mum (apparently his grandma is the doctor my parents saw when I was being born… who knew, right?)… Dylan and I both plan on getting jobs at the Prophet, but what's Rose going to do? What if I lose touch with her? Do you know how much that would suck? How would she ever take me back if we never see each other?

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Lily said. A girl who wants to talk to me after sleeping with me? Granted, I didn't leave her alone after sleeping with her. But what is it with these Weasley girls? I swear they're going to be the death of me.

"Yeah, sure," I said, following her out of the Gryffindor common room and into my own common room. She sat down on the couch and seemed fidgety. "I've never really talked to a girl much the next day," I said.

"Yeah, I know," she said.

"My point being, I don't know how to do this," I said. "The only relationship I've been in ended immediately after…"

"I know," Lily said. "I talked to her today."

"Oh, god, did you tell her?" I asked. Shit. If Rose knows, Al knows… and then I'm dead.

"No!" Lily said, seeming appalled by the idea. "Although she told me why she broke up with you." Oh god… it's been a year and a half and it still hurts. This can't be good. "And that she intends on holding you to your promise of marriage at thirty if neither of you are married." I looked up hopefully.

"Really?" I asked. "I want her to take me back," I said quietly. "It's just… I don't know how to fix whatever it is I did wrong, since I don't know what I did."

"You aren't the one who needs to be taken back," Lily said in a reprimanding tone. "She's the one who should be groveling." I started at the conviction in her voice. "What she did to you was wrong, Scorpius. Very wrong. Cruel even," she continued. "I don't understand what she did, but I think in a small way, about one thing, she's right."

"Which part is she right about?" I asked.

"You don't know what you want from a relationship yet. I mean, you know you want Rose, but you don't know emotionally how you need to be yet," she said. I stared in shock at this petit red head, whose brown eyes reminded me so sharply of her grandmother, who was so unreasonably intelligent. And not intelligent in the way Rose is, intelligent in a life way. Book smart versus street smart. And then I had to wonder how on earth she got this way.

"How do you … understand… that?" I asked. "I mean, you're only sixteen!" She smiled sadly at me.

"You know how Al and James are so protective?" she said.

"Yeah," I replied. "Thus why I'm never telling them we slept together," I said. She grinned.

"It's because I used to be exactly like you were right after Rose dumped you," she said. My jaw dropped.

"How exactly?" I asked.

"Same reason and everything," she said quietly.

"Which son of a mother fucker"- I started. "It is sick and wrong to do that to anyone, male or female. Us guys, we're a lot more fragile than most women give us credit for. Please tell me which ass hole did that to you and I'll go kill him," I said.

"It was two years ago," she said. "And trust me, James and Al nearly did kill him." Now that she mentions it, I actually remember Al being all pissy for around a month back in our fifth year and Lily being depressed.

"Do you still…" I started.

"Love him?" she asked. "No. I got off a lot easier than you did in that regard. You know that's why it still hurts, right?" she said. Subconsciously, I had been aware of the fact that the only reason it still hurt was because I was in love with her, but consciously it had been, 'I hurt' and 'I'm in love with Rose' but never an additive thing.

"Yeah, I know," I said.

"You graduate in two weeks," she said. And cue confused looks. "So two weeks, it's not a lot of time. I was thinking you could pass along some knowledge to the next Quidditch captain," she said.

"I have to admit that you've lost me," I said. She laughed.

"Like some pointers on how to catch the snitch," she said casually.

"Neither of us play Seeker – oh," I said. I must have looked concerned.

"Think about it. All you really want from life is sex. All I really want from you is sex. There are only two weeks left of school and this ends abruptly at that point," she said. "It might give you a chance to decide you either do or don't want a purely physical relationship. That counts as experience." I blinked in shock at her. I do have to admit that last night was very nice… "I realise that breaks most of your rules, but how will you know if you like something if you don't try it?" she said. Her statement echoed Rose's break up speech, except that it was followed by the subtext 'try me' rather than 'try someone else'. She stood up and started for my room. "I'm sleeping in your bed, whether or not you say yes. You can choose whether or not to join me." I blinked after her, still trying to work out what had just happened. And knowing I probably shouldn't, I got up and followed her into the room.

"Oh, good," she said from her position on my bed. "I meant to tell you. I have no idea how she managed to get up and walk away after sleeping with you." I smirked.

"I'm sure I've gotten substantially better," I said. She grinned at me.

OOooOOooOOooOO

Being with Lily Potter was an entirely new experience. We never spoke during the school day. At night, she slept in my bed. Eventually, Al figured out there was something going on between us, but he was so enthralled with Dylan that he didn't really care, for which I was grateful since the three of us, along with Will and Rose, had plans to share a flat in Diagon Alley after we graduated.

"So, it's our last night," she said on the last day of school.

"Yes," I replied.

"Overall, how have the last two weeks suited you?" she asked.

"They were nice," I said. Yeah, nice is a good word. "Relaxing. Although I think I disappointed some people," I added. She laughed.

"I think you did too," she said. "And yes, it was nice. But, there's something I have to tell you," she said, adopting a faux serious tone.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"I'm breaking up with you," she said. "On our pre-arranged date of termination." For the first time following the words 'break up' I found myself smiling.

"We get to be friends, right?" I asked. She looked affronted.

"Of course! Who else am I going to ask for advice next year on how to captain a Quidditch team? James? Perish the thought!" she exclaimed. I grinned.

"You don't know you're captain yet," I said. She rolled her eyes.

"You, Rose and Ioan are graduating. Hugo, Jack and Donovan made the team this year. That leaves me most senior member," she said. "And therefore captain."

"You make a fair point," I said.

"Well, Scorpius Malfoy," she said, kissing me lightly. "I'll see you around."

"Goodbye, Lily Potter," I said. And she got up and walked away.

The next day, I stepped off the train at King's Cross with my four best friends. We faced the barrier that would take us to Muggle London and the rest of our lives.

"You guys realise that the next time any of us are coming back here, baring the exception of little siblings, will be when our children are eleven?" Will said.

"That, mate, that's just weird," I said. "Shall we?" I asked, linking elbows with him and Al. They linked elbows with Rose and Dylan respectively. And together we walked out to face the world.

A/N: Well, what did you think? This was my first ever writing of Scorpius/Lily and I think it shall definitely be the last. It felt weird to me to write, but that's sort of how it happened. When I write, I surrender my fingers to the free will of my characters and turn off my brain. This happened to be the result. I got tired of his man whoring for a chapter so I gave him purpose for once. Don't worry. This will eventually be Rose/Scorpius again. And it will be before they're thirty. But it's a different beast than it was when I started. Originally, Rose dumped him and he became a drunk. Now he's a man whore. I like it better this way. It will still be the general same in the end, but... Anyways...

Read and Review or Flame or whatever...

Mousie